Calves11’s BodyBlog

Can’t determine the reason for my left shoulder hurting but its been killing me every time i lift. It doesn’t matter what muscle group i am working out, it just seems to hurt whenever I use my arms for anything, even if I am not focusing on my shoulders. I traditionally don’t work out the shoulders much. Could this be the reason? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!

Meal #/ food               Calories / Protein (g’s)

Breakfast #1 (8:00 am)
whey shake                     115 24
banana                     200 2

Breakfast #2 (10:00 am)
power bar                     240 8

Lunch #1 (12:30 pm - 1:30)
2 slices bread             160 6
1 slice cheese               75 5
3 slices turkey             120 20
chips                             150 2
carrots                       30 0
yogurt                     130 6
apple                              65 0
2 bite size bars             160 2

Lunch # 2 (4:15 pm)
snickers bar             250 4

Workout meal (5:30 pm)
whey shake                    115 24

Dinner #1 (7:00 pm)
griled chicken breast        280 35
1 cup rice                     220 5
green beans              30 2
milk 1.5 cups             200 12

Dinner #2 (10:00 pm)
milkshake                     500 16

Other intakes throughout the day
misc snacks             150 2
fruit juice (2)             260 0

Total                           3450 175
                                 Calories    Grams of Protein

This is just an example. It’s not what I eat every day. Sometimes I’ll have tuna sand for lunch or a ham sand. Sometimes I’ll have a peach or pear instead of an apple. Sometimes I don’t have the banana in the am. Sometimes I’ll have a burger for dinner or corn instead of green beans. I try to mix it up so that the massive amount of food being stuffed into my mouth is made a tolerable as possible. What do ya’ll think?

Well, it still applies. I can’t say I’m eating whatever I want, but it is all clean/real food. We may have different objectives, mine is to gain weight. So I am eating: breakfast 1 - protein shake #1 & fresh fruit. Breakfast 2 - power bar. Lunch one - sandwich, chips, fresh vegetable, fresh fruit, yogurt, cookies/candy, fruit juice. Lunch 2 - snickers. Workout meal - protein shake #2. Dinner 1 - grilled chicken, whole grain rice, steamed veggies, milk. Dinner 2 - milkshake. I lived for years with a nutritionist and here’s my advice: eat a well rounded diet full of fruits, veggies, lean proteins, whole grains. if you are trying to loose weight, eat 500 less calories than usual. If you’re trying to gain, eat 500 more. Pretty basic, but so far it has worked for me and it makes sense. Here’s that aformentioned food pyramid: dairy 2-3 servings, meats 2-3, veggies 3-5, fruits 2-4, grains 6-11, fats use sparingly. If you want to loose it, eat less and do cardio. If you want to gain, eat more (of everything) and do anaerobic.

I recently changed my motivation level from 7 to 9. The reason I didn’t change to a 10 out of 10 is a complex one. First, I always think there is room for improvement in pretty much anything. So, although I’m pretty much as motivated as I think I can be right now, there may come a time in the future that I am able to be more motivated. I am eating as much as I comfortably can and am going to the gym as much as I think I can without overtraining. I have cut out my cardio as much as it pains me since I so much enjoy a good game of basketball, hike, rock climbing (although that is quite anaerobic as well), bike ride, run or whatever. I have purchased a weight training book to further refine my routine and have looked up numerous new exercises to enact a higher level of muscle confusion. The areas I still believe I can improve upon are: one - sleep. I need to get 8 hours of rest per night to allow muscles to fully recover and give me more energy for the following day’s workout. This will require me to get what I need to get done by 9:00 every night so that I can wind down and get to bed by 10:00. I’ve always had an issue with this and it is the primary factor holding me back right now. Two: I need a reason to get fitter. Right now I am doing this for myself, so that I feel better about myself and to keep me busy in turbulent times. But there are so many other things tugging at me now for time. I need to make more time for lifting. Also, I am becoming satisfied with the way I feel about myself and my strength level. I have reached my original goals. Now I need to fully adopt my new goals of gaining 20 more lbs…to 185 and to trim 2% off my body fat….and to bench 250. Athough, I’d really like to be able to work out with 225 and lift it 6 times, which means I would be able to one rep max at 275. So that should be my long term goal. So my new short term goal is to gain 10 lbs up to 175, trim 1% off BF and to lift 250. Once I get there, I can adjust accordingly. But what is the reason? Why do I want to do this? I guess meeting my short and long term goals would help my self confidence, but I’d like a competition so that I can at least maintain this level of motivation. That will be my next motivator…a competition. With someone. Maybe my buddy Matt or Thompson. Third: I have to adjust my workout regimen for even great muscle confusion. I need to fuse new workouts in and do new techniques that are outlined in this book that I just got. So I need to read this book ASAP. So to recap…I need to get more sleep,  initiate a competition, and learn and implement new exercises. FYI, I wrote this to help hold myself accountable. So I can’t not do what I know I need to do.

I want to gain 15-20 lbs of muscle. If I were to weight 165, I would be happy, though 170 sounds good too. I want to eventually be able to bench 225 lbs and run a marathon. Therefore my short term goals will be to bench 185 lbs and run a 10k. As of 2/1/09 I maxxed out on the bench (machine) at 205 lbs and ran a 5k on the treadmill. As of 5/15/09 i put up 165 lbs 8 times = 200 lbs 1 time. I’ve cut back on my aerobic in an effort to gain weight. I am up to 159 lbs body weight last time I checked. My next set of short term goals is to put up 185 lbs 6 times which would equal 215lbs x 1, and get up to 165 lbs body weight. I’m giving myself until July 4th to get there. After that I think I’ll shoot for 205 x 6 = 240 x 1 and 170lbs body weight by Labor Day. From there, it’ll be easier to pack on the weight b/c I’ll be cooped up over the winter. If I can gain 10 more lbs over the winter, I can take off 5 lbs in the spring (by doing cardio to practice for distance running…you know for the marathon) to be at my prime weight of 175 by next summer.

Today I tried to max out on bench. This is the first time I’ve tried to do this in about ten years. Bare in mind that I just got back into lifting about 6 months ago. Based on my workout weight/reps, 165 11 times, Bodybuilding.com says I should be able to max out at 229 (ie. 225). Unfortunately, none of my gym buddies were working out today, so I had to ask a stranger to spot me. Since this was my first attempt at a max out, I went for 215 - 30 lbs more that I’ve ever lifted (185 was my max and I did it 4-5 times). I was tempted to pull the trigger at 225 but figured I’d err on the side of caution/reason. Wouldn’t you know, I got 215 up fairly easily. In fact, I almost got it up twice, but I wouldn’t have without help from my spotter. So, right now, despite the info on my lifting stats, I’m saying I can lift 215. Next month I’ll try 225. The following month 235. I’m going to try to max out once a month if possible. My lifting routine only has me doing horizontal bench four times per month though, so we’ll see. Figured, for my own sake, I’d better post this since it was a max out and more than I’ve ever lifted. More later.

I’m really not that hairy of a guy…probably about average, possibly a little less hairy than average, in fact. Nevertheless, every few months I trim the chest vest. I’ve never shaved or waxed. The furthest I’ve ever gone has been to use clippers with the shortest attachment - leaving about 1/3" of hair still there. This has always worked for me. The hair that’s left is never too short to get itchy or scratchy and because I don’t have much hair there to begin with, the little hair that remains after trimming is barely noticeable with the naked eye. But I’m a pretty curious creature, so I   wanted to know if Nair would be a better solution.  It’s not. Not at all. First of all, it’s messy as hell. Clumps of hair get everywhere and it takes a lot longer than if I were to use clippers or even shave with a razor, for that matter. Furthermore, the goop stinks to high heaven. It literally smells like burnt rubber….come to think of it - burnt hair. I rinsed three times and I still reeked. I can’t get the stink off of me. It’s terrible. To make matters worse, the Nair doesn’t even get all your hair off. It seems to break down your hair molecules around 1/8" from your skin so you’re left with what looks and feels like a four of five day old shave. What a bummer! The cherry on top though had to be the way my nipples reacted to it. I told a friend after the fact that it felt like someone was putting out a lit cigarette on my left nipple, while the right nipple felt like it was being squeezed in a vice. Kinda weird how it elicited slightly different pain sensations on different sides of the body…but I digress. I just felt the need to share this with you all so that you’d never use Nair without being forewarned. If you really want to do something, I’d suggest the clipper method with the shortest attachment. Or, if you can stand it - wax. Just don’t use Nair. Unless you like that kind of thing. Hey, some people like being choked with rubber balls in their mouths and tied up and whipped. If this kind of thing is for you….try Nair. Hit me back with your thoughts. Peace.

I went online just now to check out my approx body fat at my new weight of 165 and I got a bunch of different answers. the first one told me my body fat was 14.85, the next one told me two different estimates depending on how its calculated, 15.01 and 12.8, the next one said 15 and the final one I just did said 10.8%. So what’s the deal. Is there a predominant way to calculate this or is it all just guesstimates? Just did another one as I was typing…this one came in at 14.8. They all seem to ask you height and weight, some ask or neck size, waist size, hips size, others still ask for wrist size and forearm size. One actually asked for my age! Does that matter? If I can find a reasonable calculation, I’ll post it. Otherwise, let me know if you guys find one. Peace.

I have no quads left. I can’t even walk down stairs. I am literally stranded in my bedroom upstairs. I can only imagine what I’ll feel like tomorrow. And I think I can ever run a marathon?!? It’s not like I even killed it today. I ran about as slow a 5k as I ever have. I used to be able to eclipse the 19 min mark (in high school). Now I was actually happy with 29 minutes! I got a ways to go…….

Freakin’ hate to say it, but despite the progress I’m making in the gym in terms of lifting heavier and heavier weights, my physical transformation is beginning to fall off. I don’t see the improvement in my appearance the way I used to. I feel I still look about the same I did 3 months ago! Bear in mind, 3 months ago I had only been lifting for 3 months so I was impressed with the visual results to that point. What’s a guy gotta do to NOT plateau? I keep telling myself that if I am getting stronger, I must also be getting bigger. I just don’t see it. I’ve been mixing up the routines and working out harder and longer, etc; and for that I have gotten stronger. But my goal is twofold - to get strong and to get big. I just can’t eat enough to gain weight. And the weight I have gained (10-15 lbs) seems to be in my belly. WTF?! I’m doing 12 sets of ab workouts every other time I go to the gym. And it’s not like I can cardio away that little bit of belly I’ve gained because at the same time, I want to continue to gain weight…just not there. I just don’t get it. Please offer some advice!!!!